


separated by a chasm of death

by chasingsuperheroes



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Nyssa Al Ghul (Mentioned) - Freeform, basically Laurel Lance fangirling, friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-27 01:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5028082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingsuperheroes/pseuds/chasingsuperheroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sara Lance did not live to see twenty-seven.</p><p>And that hurt.</p><p>But not as much as what came in the weeks after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	separated by a chasm of death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mimozka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimozka/gifts).



> for the amazing mimozka, who asked me to write ‘Haunt Me for Sara + Laurel and/or Nyssa’  
> This is longer than I intended because I made myself sad sorry (also unedited and un-beta-ed and written at 3 am on the mobile app so please forgive me) (also the first time I have shown anyone but crushingmagnolias my fanfiction)
> 
> Prompt: Haunt Me | Characters: Sara Lance || Laurel Lance

When Sara Lance was three, her older sister Laurel seemed so big and Sara wanted to be all grown-up just like her. If Laurel wanted to eat with a red spoon, then Sara did too. If Laurel was wearing a blue dress, Sara would want to wear the same dress too.  
Their mother, in a while of exasperation, resolved to buying two of everything she got for Laurel. Their father would smile and play with his girls and shake his head.  
‘It’ll pass,’ he’d say, but he was wrong.  
Sara never stopped admiring Laurel, not even when she settled for an orange spoon and a green dress. Not really, anyway.

When Sara was nine, she just wanted to play with doctors with her dad and hide-and-seek with her mom. She did not understand her sister.  
You see, Laurel was cool, just like all the other kids at her school, and having your little sister hanging around you was the definition of ‘not cool’. She’d tell all her friends how annoying her little sister was and Ollie, the boy Laurel liked, would smile and say, ‘Same.’  
Secretly, though, she would play cops and doctors with Sara, and tell her all her secrets, and prepare her for being Ten, because Ten was when you got double digits, and it was a Very Important Birthday.  
Laurel adored having Sara.  
Even when she got that stupid canary for her next birthday, oh god.

Six years after that, Sara was fifteen, and the bane of her sister’s existence.  
Laurel was no longer the only Lance daughter with a huge crush on Ollie Queen. (Who had incidentally, at the time, been publicly christened ‘the tabloid king.’)  
Laurel was also jealous.  
So when Sara snuck out at night to one of Tommy Merlyn’s secret parties, Laurel called her dad. Sara was grounded, and by the time she wasn’t, Laurel and Ollie were dating.  
Sara was mad at her, and things weren’t so good.  
But older sisters are a special kind of people, and Laurel loved Sara anyway.

When Sara was twenty-one, talking to Laurel, fighting with Laurel, seeing Laurel was all part of a distant dream. A dream she could not afford to entertain. The League was her life and Nyssa was her heart, and that was supposed to be it for her.  
Except.  
It couldn’t be, not without her sister.  
It had been over three years since she had seen Laurel, but there was this unsuppressed reflex in the back of her mind that said ‘She would have loved that,’ and ‘I wish she was here to see this,’ so often, it would create this dull throbbing in her heart that would slowly spread out through her body like a web of unrestrained torture.  
And miles away, back home, Laurel would experience an identical feeling.  
Even when Sara and Laurel were so far out of each other’s reach, they never stopped loving each other.  
Not for a second.

Sara Lance did not live to see twenty-seven.

And that hurt.

But not as much as what came in the weeks after.

Sara watched Laurel scream her name when she had hit the ground.  
She watched Laurel carry her body to their friends, to their team, and she watched them bury her in the empty grave with tears and pain and a new kind of grief.  
She watched Laurel tread on eggshells around their father, unsure if he would survive knowing the truth.  
Through it all, Sara watched from afar, supporting some of Laurel’s sadness, so she would not have to. Keeping an eye over her as she slept, as she wiped tears away into strength, as she put one foot in front of the other and kept on going.  
Sara was sad for her sister, but she was proud.

Sara watched Laurel meet Barry Allen, the fastest man alive.  
She watched Laurel let her mother know what had happened, let her burden be shared.  
She watched Laurel starting to learn how to fight, picking up a black mask.  
She watched Laurel wage war against a powerful gang, fight like hell had run cold, find the courage to tell their father the terrible truth.  
Through it all, Sara watched from afar, giving her courage when she needed it, helping her learn and grow and believe. Taking care of her as she worked, as she fought her demons away, as she forgave and moved forward with the faith and support that she deserved.  
Sara was terrified for her sister, but god, she was proud.

Sara watched Laurel struggle with Vertigo, with a ghost (her ghost), with finding her own path leading away from the trail Sara had tread.  
She watched Laurel love and care for their father, in spite of his destructive grief.  
She watched Laurel pour away the alcohol when it could have been so easy not to.  
She watched Laurel realise the significance of what she’d been doing when Cisco Ramon learned her secret identity and stammered over how amazing he thought she was. (Sara 100% agreed with him)  
She watched Laurel connect with Nyssa, forgive Thea, help Felicity, and find her solid ground in a spiral of chaos.  
Through it all, Sara watched from afar, letting her do what she could, keeping her safe, being her inspiration. Giving her splinters of happiness and pieces of joy, protecting her from danger, keeping her solid ground as steady as she could.

Sara was sad and happy and scared, but she was consistently proud, so proud, because of all that Laurel had accomplished, all that she had done, and how things were finally getting better for her, and how much she deserved it.  
Even when they were separated by the chasm of death - Sara was proud.


End file.
